


Treehouse

by CartoonBun



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Child Neglect, Childhood Friends, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Homophobia, I don't like the character tags have their real life names on them, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Violence, Secret Crush, Slow Burn, inspired by treehouse by alex g, more tags as the story progresses, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:06:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28484343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CartoonBun/pseuds/CartoonBun
Summary: George always had a hard time making friends. The boys back in England had called him boring while the Floridan kids in the neighborhood said he was too quiet. It wasn't until he stumbled across a treehouse in the woods with a blonde boy nicknamed Dream that things changed. Who knew ignoring a "Do Not Enter" sign could lead to something good?Alternatively: Dream and George growing up together in snapshots and falling in love along the way.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 11
Kudos: 122





	1. Chapter 1

The sound of birds chirping and the wind rustling leaves filled George’s ears as he walked through the woods. Florida was a lot different than England and any free time he had during the past week he spent exploring the area near his new house. He had gone through nearly every nearby neighborhood with his parents by his side and he was sick of looking at the suburban houses that lined the streets..

So when his dad had off-handedly mentioned a woods nearby, George was out the door within seconds with an untie shoe on his foot and a small phone to contact his parents in his shorts pocket. Florida definitely had to have something cooler than suburban houses and hot weather.

Now, after spending an hour exploring the woods, George could confidently say there were definitely cooler things than the hot weather and suburban houses. Sure the city was nice but, for an eight year old boy with a mere ten bucks to his name, the forest was ten times cooler.

He kicked a rock in front of him a couple times before he kicked it hard and watched it smack a tree. It hit it with a solid thud and fell back onto the ground. George walked over to pick it up when he noticed a piece of cardboard pinned on the tree. He frowned and dropped the rock to walk to the other side of the tree.

‘DO NOT ENTER, DREAM’S PROPERTY!!!’

The words were written sloppily enough that George could tell an adult hadn’t written it but they looked neat by eight year old standards. George squinted at the cardboard sign and glanced up the tree, only to notice a slightly worn down treehouse up there. The treehouse looked decently big and stable enough to handle maybe even his parents up there. It was cleverly hidden by the surrounding leaves and if George hadn’t seen the sign he would have missed it. The urge to climb up the tree prickled at him until he shrugged and grabbed a branch.

His feet and hands worked in a slow cautious motion, while he prayed that he wouldn’t somehow fall while climbing. He hadn’t broken a bone yet and didn’t fancy changing that. Eventually after about two minutes the young boy had stood at the top of a leafy platform. 

George looked at the leaves and noticed they were all in different colors, judging by the shades, which was odd since it was the summer. He picked one up and twirled the stem in his hand examining the crunchy leaf.

He dropped the leaf and walked over to the door, where another sign was at that told George to not enter. He ignored it and pushed the door open with his right hand gently.

George gasped softly at the sight. While the outside was worn down the inside looked rather nice. A nice brown table with a chair was in there, a board game on the floor, and a couple books were scattered on the floor and tables. A yellow carpet covered a good portion of the floor and a couple pieces of paper with rough, rather ugly, sketches on them sat on the floor. He walked over and picked up a book from the table he recognized as Harry Potter.

It was a cool place if George was being honest. It was well hidden, had plenty of space, and looked decently stable. Well he wasn’t sure if it was that stable, for all he knew it could tumble down any second!

To test out whether it was stable George did a couple of soft jumps and with each jump he put more power. The treehouse floor shook lightly at the last one he did but no concerning creaks or noises came.

“What are you doing here?!” A boy’s voice called out from behind him.

George turned around to find a dirty blonde boy his age standing there. His hair was longer than George’s carefully cut hair and had a wild look to it. There was a bandage on his cheek and a couple littering his arms. He wore a bright yellow hoodie, which George felt unsure about since it could have been green as well, and black shorts. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows furrowed, as if he couldn’t believe someone else was in the treehouse.

“Uh...?” George intelligently blurted. 

There was an awkward silence between the two for a bit as they stared at each other before the boy crossed his arms. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you see the signs telling you to not enter, or can you not read?”

George frowned. “I can read perfectly fine!”

“Then why are you here, you’re not Dream!”

George resisted the urge to say a colorful word his dad had taught him and instead let out a loud sigh. “I was exploring the woods after my dad told me about them. I just so happened to come across the treehouse and wanted to look around since it was the most exciting thing I had seen since me and my family moved.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be my family and I?” The boy furrowed his eyebrows at George. “Also you have a cool accent, are you British?”

George felt his face go red. “I don’t have an accent, it’s you guys that have one!” He exclaimed.

“No?” The boy frowned. “My mom said there’s British accent people from England have, so I don’t have an accent you have one!”

“Well we made English, that’s why it’s called English and not Americish!” George argued. Did he really not understand what George was saying or was he trying to be a twat?

“Whatever!” The boy exclaimed. He pushed past George and plopped down in the chair before he picked up a book. “Can you just leave and let me be here alone?”

George squinted at the boy and crossed his arms. He sat down on the floor and glared up at the boy. “Why should I?” 

“Cause it’s my property!” The boy yelled. He put the book down on the table. “It literally says to not enter at the doorway and that it’s my property on the signs!”

“You’re Dream?” George asked.

“Well, duh,” Dream scoffed. He motioned around with his hand and gave George a look as if the other was an idiot, which George would suppose he was for not making the connection. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise!”

“Your name is Dream then? Like actually? That’s what your parents wrote down?” George asked. Surely his parents wouldn’t have named their kid Dream, that sounded like some hippie name. 

“Obviously not,” Dream rolled his eyes. “My real name is Clay but my nickname is Dream since my teacher keeps catching me ‘dreaming’ in class he started calling me that last year and it just stuck.”

“That’s not very smart,” George frowned. “My mom would freak out if she heard I slept in class.”

“I get good grades anyway so it doesn’t matter to her or my dad,” Dream shrugged.

There was a silence for a bit with the two boys looking at each other. Birds chirped outside of the treehouse while wind rustled the leaves outside, giving a calming atmosphere. Which amused George a little since they had just been arguing.

“So, are you going to leave?” Dream asked. He looked a bit annoyed at the other boy but also a bit tired, since when did he have eyebags?

George shook his head. “No. It’s fun up here.”

He half expected Dream to threaten to call his parents, an older sibling, or some friends to get George out. Instead the blonde huffed and picked up a book. “Whatever.”

George sat there silently on the floor for a bit before he spoke. “Y...you’re letting me stay?”

“I can’t get you to leave, plus you know about this place already so I can’t do much to make you permanently leave,” Dream muttered.

George examined Dream for a bit more before he stood up and offered his hand out to the boy, who eyed it cautiously. “I’m George. I’m eight years old, I moved here a week ago from England, and I have a cat.”

It was an impulsive decision, which was rare for George but he found no harm in trying to get along with the owner of the treehouse now that he was allowed to stay. The worst that could happen was George being threatened with being kicked out again.

Dream squinted at the hand before he shook it, looking up at the brunette. “Clay, but everyone calls me Dream. I’m seven but I’m turning eight soon. I also have a cat and she’s super old but that doesn’t stop her from being the best cat in the world.”

George raised an eyebrow at that. “No way. Mine is better.”

“I’ll fight you on that,” Dream grinned.

The two had fought on the topic for a couple minutes before the conversation had changed. Dream had been interested in England while George was interested in America, so both boys found talking to be easy. The conversation seamlessly transitioned from topic to topic as the two chattered away. 

Despite their rough start George noticed that he actually liked talking with Dream. The other boy had told him of his pranks and about what America was like without much of a fuss, even explaining things without judgement when George asked. It was easy talking to Dream which surprised George since it had been hard talking to his friends in the past. The other boy had also let George ramble about England without giving him weird looks or interrupting him, which already put him above most of the neighborhood kids.

The two sat on the floor of the treehouse and ended up chatting until the sun began to go down. George’s eyebrows furrowed at the golden beam that fell onto the floor in the treehouse and he frowned. 

He looked up at Dream, who’s eyes now had a light gold look to them due to the sunbeam that hit the top half of his face. The rough look of the boy that screamed troublemaker to George had disappeared and Dream looked oddly soft in the gold glow.

“I have to leave for dinner,” George muttered. He picked up his phone and frowned at the time, he didn’t want to leave just yet.

Dream nodded and got up. “Me too. Hey, you live on Cherry Street right?”

Dream offered a tanned hand to George, who took it with his paler one. “Mhm, 32 Cherry Street.”

“Great!” Dream grinned. “I can take you there since it’s near my house!”

“Alright then,” George said.

With that the two boys climbed down the tree, Dream was down within seconds due to his experience while George ended up taking much longer. Once the two boys were on the ground they headed towards the nearest street, with George mostly following Dream since he wasn’t so sure of his forest GPS skills quite yet.

They traveled through the woods and George admired the woods while they walked through. The golden beams gave a gentle look to everything and, even if George couldn’t see most colors, it still amazed him how different they could make things look. 

He wanted to do nothing but to explore the woods with Dream. However he didn’t think his parents would appreciate their only kid breaking their rules by staying out in the woods at night in their new town.

Eventually they reached a suburban street with houses aligned on the side and people walking around. The two boys continued to chat as they walked, about their schools, their pets, and what video games they wanted for Christmas.

Eventually they reached a familiar street and George perked up at the sight of his house. He grabbed Dream’s sleeve in excitement, missing the flinch from the other boy at the sudden movement. 

“Want to come in? I want to introduce you to my parents,” George offered.

Dream’s eyebrows furrowed and he glanced up at the sky. “It’s getting dark...but I’m sure I have time.”

The two boys walked into the gray suburban house. George wasn’t quite used to living here but that didn’t stop him from barging in, he shouldn’t have to ring the doorbell for his own house after all.

“Mom! Dad! Are you here?” He called out. He let go of Dream’s sleeve and took off his shoes, motioning for the other boy to do the same.

“Upstairs!” His father called down.

George turned to Dream and grinned. “I bet I can bet you up the stairs.”

The two boys raced up the stairs in their socks, with Dream being a narrow winner who earned a light punch from George, and George led the way to his parents office. He opened the door slowly and saw his parents setting up a desk. 

“Oh? Who’s this, George?” His mom said. Her dark hair was in a bun with a couple of stray hairs loose that framed her pale face. She stood up and was holding a wooden leg in one hand and a manual in another.

“This is Dream! He lives nearby and he’s my new friend,” George said. He noted that Dream seemed a little shy near George’s parents, which was funny to him since he had been so bold to George earlier. Well it was the same for George so he shouldn’t be too surprised.

“Dream? Your parents named you Dream?” His dad asked. He raised a thick dark eyebrow at the younger boy.

Dream stepped back and shook his head. “No, my real name is Clay but everyone calls me Dream.”

“Well that’s a cool little nickname,” George’s mom smiled. She knelt down to Dream and George’s level. “Do your parents know you’re here?”

“He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t alright!” George brought up.

“No, but they trust me enough to let me do what I want,” Dream said. “I just have to be back before it’s dark.”

“Do you live nearby? I can give you a drive if it’s too far,” George’s dad offered.

Dream shook his head. “It’s fine, I live nearby anyway so I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, well if you want a snack there’s apples and oranges downstairs. A couple things of crackers too if you want,” George’s mom smiled and got up from her knelt position.

“Ok! Thanks!” George said. He grabbed Dream and dragged the blonde out of the room to go downstairs.

Once the two were downstairs they grabbed two oranges each and peeled them over the trash before they sat down at the table. 

“What did you think of them?” George asked.

“They’re really nice,” Dream said. He shoved a slice of orange in his mouth and his eyes widened in surprise. “These are really good!”

“Mom buys the best!” George grinned. He shoved a peel in and hummed happily.

The two talked a bit while they ate and eventually it was time for Dream to go. George made him promise to come over again tomorrow, which Dream had quickly agreed to. George felt like jumping around at the idea of exploring the area with Dream, his parents were nice and all but being with a friend was different. 

Dream put on his yellow, or green, sneakers and walked over to George before he wrapped his arms around the boy. George froze for a second before he hugged back.  
“Bye!” Dream yelled. He closed the door behind him and George walked over to the window to watch the younger walk until he couldn’t see him anymore. 

He huffed and walked upstairs to his room to watch some tv in his bland white room. Mom had brought up painting it but they hadn’t gotten around to getting the blue paint quite yet. 

George flopped on his bed and turned on the tv, a show with colorful characters turned on and George found himself barely paying attention to the screen. He couldn’t help it, his thoughts were occupied for the first time in ages.

George knew it was weird, friendship didn’t come easily to him. His old friends had said he was boring at times and too quiet, which was so different from Dream that he wondered if the other boy’s talkative nature rubbed off on him. He had talked more today with Dream than he had with his parents all week. 

He liked Dream. Though he thought the other was rude and a bit of an arse at first the other turned out to be pretty funny. The stories he told were amazing as well, all the times he had gotten in trouble with the teachers, the pranks he did, and his adventures with his siblings made George feel envious. He wanted to do those things and Dream was his chance.

He was glad Dream let him stay in his treehouse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George has his first day at the new school and ends up meeting some new people.

As the brick elementary school came into view, George felt a fluttery feeling in his stomach. His light blue backpack was on the seat next to him and he was wearing his favorite blue shirt with white shoes. The sky was a brilliant blue with a few fluffy white clouds and the sun had settled comfortably in the sky. It was hot, like always, and George had never felt more anxious.

He swallowed nervously and looked at his mom in the driver’s seat. Once they made eye contact he spoke up. “Will you come in the school with me?” his words came out soft and had a slight whine to them like he was a six year old begging their parent for something. He didn't like to use the whine but he would if he had to.

George's mom shook her head as her eyes stayed on the road in front of her. She wore a gray suit and had her dark hair slicked back into a ponytail. “I can’t, George, you know that. Besides, it's your first day in class and I want you to have fun.”

George slumped down in his seat and held back a sigh of disappointment. “Ok.” He turned his head to look out the window towards the school. The sight of people leaving their cars and entering the school made George squirm uncomfortably in his seat. 

They turned into the school and kept going until they were right in front of the school with cars in front of and behind them. George had half the thought to plant his foot and refuse to go in but he knew it was a dumb idea since his mom drove him here already. Slowly he grabbed his bag and opened the door. He stepped out onto the sidewalk and the warm air hit him. 

“Hey, George?” His mom called. George turned around to face her and saw a soft smile on her face. “You’ll do great, I love you.”

“Love you too,” He muttered. He turned around and took a deep breath before he began to walk towards the school.

Groups of kids were everywhere as he walked in and he felt the fluttery feeling grow. George took another deep breath and walked past the entrance. He just had to go to room 204, he just had to walk there. That was all he had to do right now and then he could see Dream. He didn’t have to worry about having no friends in his class for once.

Conveniently the two boys at orientation that they ended up in the same class. It had also been the first time he saw a tall blonde woman with green eyes next to Dream that he immediately knew was his friend’s mom. She was pretty and had been polite but something about her reminded George of those stuck up moms at the store who would ask for the manager. Maybe it was something about her face?

He shuffled through the light blue halls full of kids talking loudly in groups and wracked his brain to remember the path to his class. He kept an eye out for the door numbers and within a minute he was in front of the familiar wooden door with colorful names posted on it. He squinted up and saw his blue one before he opened the door.

The room had a good couple of desks in it, a giant whiteboard taking over the wall to his right, a desk for the teacher, a giant circle carpet in the far right corner, and desks littering the room. It was a basic classroom with, what George assumed, was a red or orange theme. After all, no one would just decorate their classroom with brown.

“George!” A loud voice cried. Seconds later a body slammed into him and arms wrapped around him like an octopus. 

George yelped and stumbled back a bit, desperate to not fall and smack his head on the wooden door. “D...Dream! Get off me, what do you even think you’re doing?”

“It’s a hug, genius,” Dream unwrapped his arms and rolled his eyes. He grabbed onto George’s wrist with shiny eyes. “Anyway, there’s someone I want you to meet.” He babbled as he dragged the older boy into the room.

George obediently followed and they both ended up in a small corner with a black haired boy wearing a white headband and shirt. He looked like the kind of boy his mom would narrow down as the troublemaker of the class, which did make George nervous as to why Dream led him to the boy. 

“Sapnap! This is George,” Dream grinned. He let go of George’s wrist and jabbed a thumb in George’s general direction. George faintly recognized the name but he wasn’t quite sure from where. “He’s the one I’ve been hanging with while you were in Texas.”

Sapnap’s dark eyes glanced George up and down and he grinned. “So you’re who took my place while I was gone.”

George’s mouth opened to defend Dream and his face flushed. Dream put a finger over George’s lips and shushed George. “He’s just jealous you had more Dream time than him while he was with his crabby old grandparents.”

Sapnap wrinkled his nose at Dream but didn’t say anything about it, instead he turned over to George and raised an eyebrow. “So where did you move from?”

“England, Mom got a job offer here so we moved,” George mumbled. It had been a topic of conversation for about a month between his parents and when they broke the news to him...well George may have cried harder than he would have liked to admit.

Sapnap’s eyes widened and he gasped. “You have a British accent!”

“For the last time, it’s not an accent!” George yelled. His face felt hot and he clenched his fist, he was sick of hearing the same thing from everyone he met. “We were the ones who made English!”

“Just accept it’s an accent, Georgie,” Dream said. He leaned over and poked George’s check with a cheeky grin. “You’re in America, that’s what we’re going to say. There’s no point in arguing about it.”

“You try moving to England and having everyone bring up your accent every time they meet you!” George huffed. He walked over to the desk on Dream’s right and placed his bag on the floor before he sat down. “It’s annoying as hell.”

“You swear? Cool!” Sapnap grinned. He leaned over his table to make eye contact with George past Dream. He turned to Dream and patted his shoulder. “Dream knows a good couple of swears but he’s been refusing to tell me what they are.”

“You can literally just look them up, Sapnap!” Dream exclaimed. He looked rather annoyed at the other boy and George suspected this was a conversation Dream was sick of. “I’m not going to say them.”

“Why not?” Sapnap asked. The boy’s eyebrows were knit together and a childish pout laid on his face.

Dream groaned and dragged his palms over his face. “Because-“

A tall woman with brown hair pinned up in a near bun walked through the room and everyone went silent. George glanced around the room and just noticed that there were a lot more kids in it than when he entered. The desks near him were now filled with people.

He glanced to his left and saw a boy with black hair and a beanie on his head. They made eye contact and he grinned at George. George blinked at him and then gave a small nervous wave which made the boy’s grin grow. He turned his eyes back to Mrs. Brown in hope of not getting too distracted.

Mrs. Brown had been nice at the orientation but George wasn’t sure what type of teacher she actually was like. She wore a grey suit and had a slightly professional look to her so George half expected her to hop right into a lesson right there despite it being the first day.

Instead she clapped her hands and a warm smile spread on her face, instantly shattering her previous cold image. “Hello! I’m Mrs. Brown, your teacher you all saw at orientation. I’m glad to have you all as my students and I’m sure we’ll have an amazing year.”

George’s shoulders slumped in slight relief as she began to explain how their class worked. She had the same upbeat personality at orientation, which lifted a boulder of stress off of his shoulders. He didn’t need to deal with a bad teacher like Miss Smith in 1st grade, he still remembered when she yelled at him in front of the class for not being able to do the problem on the board. 

It was a simple introduction to the class and Mrs. Brown explained it in an easy to understand way that made George feel slightly excited for the year to come. Once she went around the room and showed off the many things she had deemed as important, all the kids in the room gathered on the carpet and sat in a circle.

“Say your name and one fact about yourself!” Mrs. Brown chirped. She pointed to a boy with fluffy brown hair and eyes. “How about you start?”

The boy straightened up and smiled. “Well, I’m Wilbur Soot and I have a twin brother in another class named Technoblade!”

George felt a little curious about the whole twin situation but everyone else in the class seemed rather bored at the information, which reminded him once again these kids had been together for years while he was new. He was the only one who knew nothing about 90% of the class. So he stayed silent and let the others in his class introduce themselves.

George tried to stick as many names with faces as he could while they introduced. He perked up when he noticed it was the boy with the beanie’s turn.

“I’m Quackity and I just got a new kitten named Tiger! He’s really tiny and cuddly at times so that’s nice,” The boy proudly announced. A couple kids nodded and let out a couple aw’s.

After three more kids it was George’s turn. He swallowed nervously and felt the eyes of the entire class on him. “I’m George, I just moved here this summer from England because of my moms job and that’s about it.”

Thankfully, their interest in him disappeared quickly and their eyes were on Dream quickly. The blonde grinned and his wheat colored eyes shone brightly. “I’m Clay, but you can call me Dream, and I’m currently sitting next to my two best friends!” With that Dream grabbed George’s shoulder and forced the boy closer to him and, judging from the yelp to his right, Sapnap had gotten the same treatment.

“Dream! What the honk man!” Sapnap exclaimed. He shoved Dream away and the two boys chuckled with Dream quickly releasing George from his grasp. Sapnap grinned and held up a peace sign. “Sapnap, I went to Texas this summer to visit my parents.”

There were just a couple more kids left, after the trio’s introduction, and the total of kids in the class ended up being 18. George’s brain took special note of Wilbur, Quackity, and a blonde kid wearing a white Adidas hoodie named Punz who seemed familiar with Sapnap. 

After the introductions they were sent back to their desks and given a couple sheets of paper. One was a reading log, two others a paper for parents to look at, and one was a paper with a bingo table on it.

Mrs Brown smiled and walked up to the room with a box of colorful chips in her hand. “We’re going to play Bingo for a bit and the winner gets a piece of candy from the bucket!”

Oh this was definitely going to be a good year for George.

————

With a lollipop in his mouth and his lunch box in front of him on the cafeteria table, George had never felt more relaxed than he had been all day. He crunched on it slightly as he listened to Dream tell Sapnap of one of their adventures in the woods, specifically the one where they found a rusty bicycle and how Dream nearly crashed while trying to ride it.

George felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned to find Quackity standing at his shoulder. He grinned and slid onto the seat next to George. 

“What’s up Dream,” The boy nodded at Dream before he turned to Sapnap. He made an exaggerated kissy face and a loud kissing sound. “Sapnap my beloved.”

“ ‘sup Quackity,” Dream slightly raised his hand with a smile.

Sapnap grinned and patted his seat. “Why don’t you come over and kiss me, Quackity?”

“Nah, George is more interesting than you,” Quackity chuckled. He turned to George and glanced at his lunchbox before gasping. “You got a snickers?! Dude, you’re so lucky!”

“Uh, yeah,” George mumbled. He didn’t really know what to do with the other boy or with strangers in general. Dream kind of forced him into interacting and Sapnap was introduced to him with Dream there, maybe Dream would notice his discomfort and help him out? 

Quackity nodded, apparently not noticing the awkwardness seeping from George. “Nice, nice, say you’re from England and you have the accent. Mind if I ask you some questions about Great Britain?”

George sighed at the word accent and nodded, he was sick of questions about England. “Yeah?”

“What’s the weather like there? It’s rainy right?” Quackity asked.

George blinked and ran the boy's words through his head. Of all the things he could ask about England, it was about the weather? “What?”

“I asked you what the weather is like, Gogy,” Quackity said. His tone was playful with a hint of aggression that George was shocked at.

“Gogy?! What the hell is a Gogy?!” George spluttered. Dream and Sapnap broke into laughter beside him as his face turned red, they even thumped the table a couple times. He turned around to face them. “Shut up!”

“G...Go..Gogy!” Dream wheezed out. There were tears formed in his eyes but the boy brought up his hand to wipe them away. “You were called Gogy!”

“Yeah? And what’s so good about that? It’s a bad nickname,” George said.

Quackity chuckled and shrugged before he bit into his sandwich that looked like it had some lunch meat on it. “I don’t know, man, I think I come up with great nicknames!”

“Nah, dude,” Sapnap leaned his head over the table. “You kinda suck at naming things, but Gogy is the best one so far.”

“It so isn’t, it doesn’t even make sense!” George exclaimed. His face was red, his sandwich was half eaten, and he had never felt more confused. “It’s barely even related to my name!”

“Yeah well mine isn’t so I guess Gogy is a perfectly acceptable nickname,” Dream concluded. The boy’s face was red from laughing and he was holding back small snickers poorly.

“Yeah it is!” Quackity and Sapnap said in unison. They both gasped and turned to each other after they said it. Their eyes were wide in awe and George was even slightly amused by their timing.

“Dude no way,” Sapnap whispered. His dark eyes were practically shining and the grin on his face made George’s face ache just at the look of it.

Quackity wasn’t too far off. His dark eyes shone and he grinned, albeit it was smaller and less painful looking than Sapnap’s. “We were so in sync!”

“It was kind of weird not going to lie,” Dream said. He took a bite of an apple that had been on his tray. “Surprised neither of you said jinx.”

Both Sapnap and Quackity froze before they yelled in unison. “Jinx!”

George knew what was going to happen and all he could do was take another bite of his sandwich in amusement and watch the show. Somehow, despite their arguing, both boys managed to say three different jinxes at the same time. By the third George couldn’t help but to let the giggles he had built up out at the ridiculousness of the situation, while Dream was straight up wheezing.

If there was one thing George knew was that Dream’s laugh was contagious. Throughout the summer he found himself laughing anytime the other laughed, even if it wasn’t funny like that one time when they were watching a nature document and they laughed over a penguin slipping for five minutes. Thankfully, George wasn’t the only one and both Sapnap and Quackity joined in the laughter while George’s giggles went to full blown laughs.

The four boys laughed at the table for quite some time and even earned a couple of concerned looks from the teachers watching over lunch. They had nearly calmed down a couple times before one of the boys would make eye contact with the others and it would start all over again. It wasn’t like they were far off from the bell either so when it rang the boys were all red faced and grinning at each other, light giggles and deep breaths for air coming out of them. 

The four walked back to class together, Dream and George in the middle while Sapnap took Dream’s other side and Quackity took George’s. It was a new sensation and George had never felt so desperate for something like that to happen again so soon after it ended.

For the rest of the day the boys couldn’t look at each other without giggling and holding back snickers. It was so dumb and it didn’t make sense but it felt good and that’s what mattered to George.

At the end of the day they put their papers away in their binders and grabbed their bags. The four walked to the door with their bags on their backs and smiles on their faces as they chatted. It was nice and a warm feeling bubbled inside of George’s chest. 

While Sapnap and Quackity were talking about whether tacos or burritos were better, Dream turned to George and smiled. “So, what do you think?”

“Of this school?” George asked. He gripped the straps of his backpack with both hands to adjust it. The crowd near the door was a bit much so the two stood a bit outside of it.

“Of Florida really, my friends, all those things,” Dream said. 

George hummed and tapped a finger on the blue strap. Florida was near unbearable with its weather, the constant heat and humidity was torture at times, but he had enjoyed a couple months of it more than all 8 years he lived in England. He snuck a glance at Dream, who faced away from George for a second due to something probably catching his eye, and he smiled.

“It’s amazing really,” George confessed. “I’ve had more fun here than all 8 years I’ve lived in England.”

Dream’s gold eyes widened. “Really?” He sounded slightly out of breath at the answer.

George nodded and raised an eyebrow while he tilted his head. “Why would I lie to you?”

Dream made a noise and shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s just weird to think about I guess.”

“That I enjoyed spending time with you more than my old ‘friends’?” George asked.

Dream’s face went slightly red and he froze for a second before he nodded with a smile. “I guess so.”

There was a silence between the two for a bit, George tuned into the conversation about tacos vs burritos with Quackity and Sapnap. While it hadn’t gotten aggressive per se it was definitely a passionate argument that neither was going to give up on.

Dream leaned down and cupped his hand next to George’s ear. “Can we go to the tree house today? Just the two of us?” His voice was soft and he seemed to be nervous at the request.

George looked up at him and nodded, causing a smile to spread across Dream’s face which made him smile in turn. “You’ll go on my bus then?”

“Sure,” Dream grinned. He pulled out his chunky looking phone from his pocket and shielded it with his body from Mrs. Brown. “I’ll text my parents so they know what’s up. Just make sure that Mrs. Brown doesn’t see my phone.”

George grinned and kept an eye out for Mrs. Brown. Thankfully she seemed busy talking to Wilbur, if George remembered correctly, and didn’t even turn towards the door. Once Dream straightened up George’s eyes snapped back to his friend.

George froze for a second when he noticed a frown and knit eyebrows on Dream. “Are you alright?”

Dream snapped out of it and put his phone away. “Yeah! My mom just reminded me that we’re visiting my aunt this weekend. She’s a bit weird but mostly alright.”

“So can you go?” George asked.

Dream nodded. “Mhm, do you want to race once the bell rings?”

“What if we race to the bus and the treehouse once we’re at our stop?” George grinned.

Dream grinned back and the two shoved past the crowd to get into the front. There were some complaints but no one was going to overly whine about bus seating in the end, everyone seemed to join into Sapnap and Quackity’s argument but Dream and George.

“Ready?” Dream said, his eyes looking at the clock. The seconds slowly ticked by and the tension grew thick between them.

George grinned. “If I win you have to make me the captain of the treehouse!” It didn’t really mean anything but it would, hopefully, be enough for Dream to agree to race. 

“Oh you’re on!” Dream cried.

The two looked at each other and Dream’s yellow eyes were filled with a competitive gleam that screamed danger, but George didn’t care. He was going to be the captain and win this race if it killed him.

Their eyes tracked the clock and they got into position. A second before the bell rang they made eye contact, green looking into brown.

The bell rang and the two boys sprinted down the hall together with not a care in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally got into the writing mood and wrote over half of the chapter in an hour then procrastinated on editing it for like a day. I'm still new to actually publishing stuff so I'm still nervous so this fanfiction is a sort of me testing the waters.
> 
> To anyone who lives in DC or nearby, please be careful. Trump supporters are storming the capitol building and are trying to steal the election back. They will hurt you and the cops are doing the bare minimum to fight back. Please, please stay safe and don't go near the downtown area. You will get through this safely. Things will get better, I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a couple weeks of friendship the Dream Team find themselves playing in the woods on a rainy day before George finds himself lost and alone.

“Come here George!” Dream’s voice yelled from behind him. 

George sped up even fast as the rain dropped from the sky. The woods were dark from the clouds above and the leaves blocked some of the sunlight that had managed to get through the cloud. With each step George’s rain boots squeaked and more rain splattered on his raincoat. Despite all the things protecting him from it his hair was damp and a couple of raindrops ran down his face. The spot with mud had nearly tripped George up a couple of times before and he found himself wishing he had brought his sneakers instead.

Dream was fast and terrifying when it came to tag. He hadn’t expected the younger to be so good at it until he saw Dream running at the recess tag they played with Quackity and Sapnap. It was like the boy had been teleporting all around the playground. So all hope was lost if Dream was running right at you unless you were able to either hide or distract him. Thankfully, a glimpse of black hair and a hoodie gave that hope back to George.

“Sapnap, help!” He cried. He dodged a large tree and ran to the other boy, a couple of raindrops hit his cheek despite his hood being up but George didn’t care. It was life or death in this moment to him and if he needed to sacrifice Sapnap, so be it. 

Sapnap froze and let out a shriek of panic before he began to sprint in the other direction. “George! Why the hell did you bring him over here?!” The boy shrieked as they ran away from the blonde.

“I don’t want to be caught!” George yelled. His feet pounded against the floor and he saw some old wooden fencing that was too big for either of the boys to jump over. George quickly changed direction and ran to the right of the fencing, desperately hoping Sapnap had split up and Dream decided to follow him. After hearing a familiar scream and laughter in the distance, George sighed as relief washed over him.

He slowed down after a while of running and walked behind a bush. He sighed as relief washed over him. The rain pattered softly on the ground and leaves, being the only noise that George could hear in the lonely woods. Eventually Dream, or Sapnap, would come after him and he would be running again so taking some time for a breather would have been good. 

The humid air brushed against his cheek and George sat there for a couple of minutes before moving out of boredom. He swatted a bug on his hand and got up, stretching his legs and arms up. He adjusted his raincoat before he started walking towards where he ran from. Halfway through it he frowned and realized he didn’t recognize the area, which definitely wasn’t good since he normally relied on Dream for directions and the other wasn’t there. George pulled out his phone and sighed when he noticed there wasn’t a signal, making him put it away.

He continued to walk for a couple of minutes until the panic of getting lost settled in. His breathing slowly became faster as thoughts danced in his head. Was he going to get out of here? He had heard the other day of kids going missing in woods from his mom, which George ignored in favor of his cartoons. 

Tears welled up in his eyes and he began to run around, unsure of where exactly he was but desperate to find something familiar. The tears slid down his cheeks and the idea of never returning home with Dream and Sapnap only made more tears. 

George yelled for help until his throat hurt and he felt like he couldn’t anymore. He still kept running around though, scared that he might be lost forever if he didn’t despite knowing it wasn’t a good idea. It wasn’t until a tree root managed to trip him up that the idea felt permanent. George hit the floor with a yelp and the mud near the tree cushioned his fall, however the pain from his ankle told him that things had only gotten worse. He got up on his arms and took a couple of deep breaths as the pain from his ankle made the tears return ten fold.

This was it. George had a broken ankle, was lost, and his throat hurt from yelling too much. He wasn’t going to go home. He wasn’t going to see his parents or cat again. He wasn’t going to ever see Sapnap and Quackity faces again. He wasn’t going to ever see Dream.

He laid on the ground, trying to catch his breath for a couple of minutes before he gritted his teeth and began to get up. The pain from his ankle still burned but he would have to push through it if it meant he would get home. George grabbed the tree and slowly pulled himself up, careful to not put any pressure on his right ankle. He glanced around and saw a decently sized stick which he grabbed. 

George really needed to find his way back and panicking wasn’t helping so far. He racked his brain, trying to remember if his parents had ever given him advice for getting lost in the woods.

It was soft and so distant that George nearly missed the yell. “George!” Someone called.

He froze for a second before relief swept over him. One last loud yell would probably kill his throat but it was worth it so long as it meant he could get out of this damned woods. “I’m over here!” He yelled. He tried to make his voice as loud as possible and an embarrassing voice crack did hit him at the last word but he didn’t care.

There was more yelling and a couple of seconds later George saw Dream and Sapnap. Dream locked eyes with him and immediately sped up with Sapnap trailing behind him.

Dream was heaving by the time he reached George but he still hugged George like the boy had been gone for ages. George hissed in pain as his ankle throbbed at the sudden force, which made Dream pull away from the boy. Tears were sliding down his cheeks and his nose was red but the relief on his face made George calm down a little more.

“Holy shit dude, what happened?” Sapnap cried. He walked forward and looked at George’s lifted ankle. “I...is your ankle..?”

“It’s definitely injured,” George muttered. His throat hurt too much to speak in more than a rough whisper. He watched Dream kneel down and lift his ankle gently. “Be careful, please.”

“I just want to see it a bit,” Dream said. He pulled George’s boot off and grimaced at the swollen ankle. Before he put the boot back on. “We need to head back. Now.”

No one argued at the command. Sapnap and Dream wrapped an arm around the boy and George did the same. They lifted him up and began to walk. Thankfully, Dream knew these woods like the back of his hand so George wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost again. 

It had taken a good half hour to get out of the woods, a combination of careful walking and both boys needing breaks from holding George made the trip longer than it would have been if they had been just running back to his house. Making it to the road meant all it would take was another fifteen minutes. 

When they made it to George’s house George nearly cried tears of relief. His ankle felt like hell, he was finally home after getting lost, and he was sick of the woods. They made it to the door and Dream took his free arm to knock on the door frantically.

A couple of seconds later the door swung open with George’s dad smiling then his face quickly dropping into confusion and horror at the sight of the three boys. “What happened?” 

Dream was the first to speak up, which George was thankful for since he felt like he could fall asleep at this moment. “We were playing tag in the woods and George got separated from us. We found him later with a swollen ankle and brought him back.”

“Here,” George’s dad picked up George and brought him in. He walked over to the couch and slowly sat George down on it. He looked at Dream and Sapnap who were awkwardly standing in the doorway. “You both can come in too.”

The boys rushed over to their friends after they took off their coats and shoes. They watched George’s dad remove the boot and he winced when he saw the swollen ankle. He looked up at George. “You can’t walk, right?”

George nodded and that just made his dad grimace. “I’ll take you to the doctor, we can see what’s wrong with it. First let me call mom.”

George’s dad walked out of the living room and into the kitchen, leaving the trio alone. There was a silence for a couple of seconds before Dream’s shoulder began to shake. George looked up and saw tears going down his friends cheeks. He reached out to ask him what was wrong before arms wrapped around him.

“I’m sorry for bringing you to the woods and losing you in there,” Dream sobbed. His grip tightened on George and his shirt was getting dirty from the few bits of mud on George’s coat that hadn’t quite dried just yet. 

Another pair of arms joined in and George looked up to find Sapnap’s black hair next to his eyes. “I’m sorry too, we shouldn’t have left you alone.” He said. His voice was scratchy and he sounded seconds away from crying like Dream was.

“It’s not your fault,” George muttered. They both let go of him and opened their mouths, presumably to argue but George shushed them. “None of us knew what was going to happen and it could have happened to any of us. I’m fine now so stop crying.”

They nodded slowly and sat down next to George. Dream sighed and leaned his head on George’s shoulder. “It was scary the first time I got lost, but I didn’t get hurt so I was worried as hell when I saw you like that.” He confessed. 

“You got lost in the woods?” Sapnap asked. George was surprised since the two had been friends since birth, basically, so he had assumed they knew every story about the other. “Since when? You know the woods like the back of your hand!”

“I was like six?” Dream yawned and stretched his arms out. “It was like a week before Drista was born, got lost and had to get out. Thankfully I did and it wasn’t even that far in the first place so I was fine.”

“That’s horrible,” George frowned. He looked at Dream. “You must have been scared.”

“It’s fine, stop worrying about the past anyway and start worrying about your ankle!” Dream chuckled. He lightly punched George’s shoulder, pushing him slightly into Sapnap who glared at Dream.

George’s dad entered the room and was putting a black coat over his shoulders. “Let's go, George, Mom will be there in a bit after we get there.”

“Alright,” George said. He paused before trying to get up. He glanced at both of his friends and turned back to his dad. “What about Dream and Sapnap? Can they come with us too?”

“Well...if they want to,” George’s dad hesitantly agreed. The boys let out a cheer and George found himself sandwiched by Dream and Sapnap’s hug. 

He laughed and pushed them away before his dad picked him up carefully. Subpoena snickered and pointed at George. “Aw, you’re like a little kid!”

“Says you, with that squeaky voice,” George scoffed before his dad could say a thing. He watched Sapnap’s face turn a bright red and him and Dream laughed at the other’s reaction.

“Boys, let’s not fight on our way to the car,” George’s dad nervously chuckled. He slid on some shoes and carried George out to the car, with Dream and Sapnap following behind.

Once settled in the car the three boys began to talk about the game of tag in the woods. George learned that, apparently, Dream and Sapnap had a mini standoff involving sticks being thrown and Sapnap screaming like a girl. George laughed as the two argued over whether Sapnap’s scream was girly or like a man’s, too busy to notice the concern on his dad’s face for the boys and their games. 

When the hospital came into view, George’s eyes widened at the size of it and his mouth dropped open. He whipped his head back to Sapnap and Dream, eyes the size of dinner plates. “This is the hospital? It’s huge!” He cried.

“It is,” Dream narrowed his eyes at it and crossed his arms, “it’s not fun to be in though. Last time I was here I waited for hours for my sister to be born and it was booooring. Dad wouldn’t even let me have his phone so I just sat there.”

“Well, we won’t have to sit there for that long I’m sure,” George’s dad said as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Sapnap nodded. “Yeah! It’s just a check up so it should be a lot faster than a mom giving birth!”

“And how do you know that?” George asked, an eyebrow raised at the black-haired boy. 

“My mom’s a nurse,” Sapnap grinned, “duh. She wouldn’t lie about those sorts of things, after all honesty is important!”

The car stopped and George turned forward to find the car parked next to a red car and a black car. He frowned when he noticed the red car was close to his dad’s side and hoped he wouldn’t have to let his dad climb over. Thankfully everyone managed to squeeze out and George was being carried inside by his dad soon enough. 

The lady at the front desk straightened up when they approached and typed a few letters on the keyboard before she turned to them. “Hello, do you have an appointment?”

“No, you see my son was playing tag with his friends in the woods and now he can’t walk without pain,” George’s dad said, he tilted his head at George. “We were wondering if we could get a quick check up?”

“Of course,” The lady said. She pulled out some papers and began to talk about something that George listened to for half a minute before his attention wandered. He turned to look behind his dad and saw Dream and Sapnap making faces. 

George giggled and made one back, causing the other two to laugh. They continued showing off their ridiculous faces and even began to judge them while George’s dad continued to talk to the lady. Eventually they finished up and George’s dad took them over to a small waiting section. He put George down and instantly the two seats next to him were filled by Sapnap and Dream, who began to talk about how weird hospitals were.

a couple of minutes later, and after many different conversation topics with arguing, a petite woman walked through the door calling for George. His dad picked him up while Dream and Sapnap were quick to follow. The lady eyed Dream and Sapnap for a second and looked up at George’s dad, who just shrugged, That was good enough to convince her and the small group of five were walking down a pale yellow hallway with tile flooring that had a couple of colorful tiles littered on it. 

Room 204 was the room that they were in and the lady opened the door for the four to walk in. She walked over to a computer on a counter and typed a couple of things in. “He’s here to have a check up on his ankle, correct?”

“Yes,” George’s dad nodded.

“Alright, Dr Shannon will be here in a couple of minutes for the check up,” The lady muttered. With that she briskly walked out of the room and it was just the four left in there.

George’s dad put George on one of those weird foam hospital beds with the thin paper wrap in the middle of it. George watched Dream, Sapnap, and his dad sit in small chairs that were positioned just so George was a good foot taller than everyone when sitting.

He laughed and pointed at Sapnap and Dream. “Look! I’m taller than you guys!”

The two squawked at him and they began to lightly bicker with George over how it was unfair since he was sitting on a higher bed, to which George stuck his tongue out at. The three lightly argued for a bit until they got bored of it and began to talk about school, which ended up mostly being about their assigned reading book. 

Eventually a tall middle aged brunette man walked through the door with a white coat on. George saw a flashy gold name tag on the man’s chest and read out Dr Shannon, meaning this was the guy checking on him. George frowned, the idea of a stranger looking at any part of him wasn’t really comfortable for him but it was a doctor so it wasn’t supposed to be weird.

“Well, I’m guessing you are George?” Dr Shannon asked, his attention directed to George.

George nodded, his brown hair bouncing slightly with it. “Mhm.”

“Seems like you have something wrong with your ankle, huh?” Dr Shannon walked over to the computer and moved the mouse around a bit, clicking occasionally on things George couldn’t quite make out from the distance. “How’d that happen?”

“Him and his friend’s were out playing in the woods,” George’s father answered. He motioned towards George, Sapnap, and Dream with his hand, making George feel a little offended. It’s not like he meant to get hurt, it just happened.

Dr Shannon laughed, his head thrown back during it. “Of course, with three young boys running around in this weather something bad was bound to happen. It’s not anyone’s fault though, mud is awfully slippery.”

“It is!” Dream piped up. His eyes wide and fists balled to his side. “One time I was running through the woods with my boots and I swear I slid a good five feet on the mud!”

“Well it’s a wonder that you didn’t get hurt!” Dr Shannon smiled. He typed a couple of more things on the computer before he turned to George and knelt down to be head level with his ankle. “Now, I’m going to ask you some questions and for you to do a couple of things. I want you to tell me the truth and if these things hurt, alright?”

George nodded and the onslaught of questions began. They were simple ones with Dr Shannon asking George if this motion hurt or if a certain area hurt when he touched it. He even hopped off the table to take a couple of painful steps, which made his face twist in effort to not react too badly to it. Dr Shannon was quick to grab him and settle him back on the bed, saying that he didn’t need any more steps.

a couple of more questions were directed towards his dad before the doctor typed a couple of things on the computer and sighed. He turned towards George and his dad. “Well, I’m fairly certain that you sprained your ankle. I would recommend for him to wear a boot for a couple of weeks, maybe around 4-6, so he can still walk around without pain.”

“A sprained ankle?” Dream grimaced and looked up at George in horror. “I..we shouldn’t have left you back there!”

“Dream, I literally ran away from you guys,” George raised an eyebrow at the blonde, “you didn’t leave me, I left you.”

“Well yeah, but we also ran in the other direction!” Dream argued. George felt an annoyance spike in him but Sapnap was quick to put a hand over Dream’s mouth before the blonde could have kept going. 

“It wasn’t our fault dude, it was just bad luck,” Sapnap sighed.

Dr Shannon nodded and handed a paper to George’s dad. “Yep, no one is at fault for what happened. Accidents happen all the time no matter how careful one is, so don’t punch yourself too hard for it happening to your friend.”

Dream nodded and pushed Sapnap’s hand off of his mouth. “Alright…”

“So, what size shoe are you?” Dr Shannon turned to George, who frowned at the question. He knit his eyebrows together and looked at the ground for a bit, trying to recall what his shoe size was.

“Thirty five,” George’s dad answered. He looked at the bewildered expression from Dr Shannon for a second before he cleared his throat. “Right, America, whatever the EU size is converted to the US is.”

Dr Shannon nodded and pulled out his phone to type something before he turned to the papers and wrote something down. “Alright, we can get you a boot here if you don’t have one at your house?”

“That would be great,” George’s dad sighed.

Dr Shannon nodded and left the room, presumably to get the boot that George would be wearing. He wasn’t quite sure what they meant by boot but he hoped that it wouldn’t be some weird-looking shoe. Like cheetah printed rain boots or those really big boots with thin heels that he saw on TV, those both sounded horrible and he couldn’t imagine wearing them to help his ankle.

Thankfully, Dr Shannon came back with a thick gray boot that had two separate pieces with velcro straps. He stuck out George’s leg and began to rattle out instructions that went through one of George’s ears and out the other. George just nodded the entire time, hoping his dad would remember what Dr Shannon was saying. 

The boot was, quite frankly, ugly and somewhat heavy to have on his foot. He frowned and moved his foot around in it, wondering if it would actually help with the pain. It didn’t look like it would but it was fairly cushioned on the inside so George couldn’t really tell easily.

“Try it out,” Dr Shannon grinned, he lightly patted the boot before he stood up and to the side.

George carefully got off the bed and his mouth fell open at the lack of pain coming from his leg. He looked at Dream and Sapnap who were leaning forward with concerned looks. He laughed at them and took a couple of steps, the height difference was a little odd but he could adjust to it later. Other than that, the boot felt amazing despite the slight heaviness and height difference it caused.

George’s dad grinned at him. “How does it feel?”

“Good,” George looked up and smiled.

“Glad to hear that,” Dr Shannon sighed. He walked over to the counter and grabbed a couple of papers. He opened a desk and took out a plastic bundle with a pair of long white socks before he passed both to George’s dad. “There’s some socks he could wear, if it gets uncomfortable inside the boot, and the bill.” 

George’s dad nodded and looked at the paper before he winced. “That..we should wait till my wife gets here to pay the bill…”

Dr Shannon nodded. “Alright, but let’s head out to the reception first.”

George joined Sapnap and Dream to walk behind the two adults. Both were looking at the boot with slight awe and confusion.

Dream frowned and pointed at it. “Does it actually help with the pain?”

“Yeah, it’s like it’s barely there anymore!” George exclaimed.

Sapnap gawked at Dream. “Why would the doctor give it to him if it didn’t help with the pain?”

“I don’t know!” Dream cried. “I mean it doesn’t look like it would but it does.” He motioned towards the boot lazily with his left hand.

“That’s fair,” Sapnap shrugged. The boys broke out into a fit of chuckles after the words.

Today had been weird for George with all the panicking, pain, and tears shed, he somehow managed to still laugh. Well it wasn’t like the pain would last forever so there was not really a point in acting sad, plus Dream and Sapnap were with him and acting sad just dragged them down too. He was glad they had both accepted him and became his friends, he didn’t know what would have happened if he had been alone when he got lost and he didn’t want to think about it too much.

George’s life before sucked without Dream and Sapnap, he wasn’t going to deny it, and seeing the two stick by his side through all of this made a warm feeling bubble in his chest. It was because of his friends that he was safe and happy so he should do his best to make them feel the same too.

George doesn’t think he’ll ever be leaving them anytime in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so essentially I kind of have no excuse for this being late except for the fact I began to write a one-shot that ended up getting out of hand. 19k, and still going, words later I remember that this story exists. 
> 
> Seriously though, take my word for it, writing 19k then going back to 4k feels so weird. It felt like I wrote nothing and I kept wondering if I should length the chapter before I remembered that I really didn't need to.
> 
> Anyway, anyone who sees this you're pretty cool and I'm glad you took time out of your day to read this. It's most just self indulgent and barely edited but if you managed to get past the first chapter and somewhat enjoy it, then I think that's pretty cool. 
> 
> My twitter is @CamelliaConsum1 and you can just send a message over there if you want to chat.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's summer break and George finds out that, for the first time in his two years of living in Florida, he's not going to be in the same class as Dream. In the middle of the night with anxious thoughts for the future, it seems that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep that night.

George was going into fifth grade and the idea made him feel sick. The past two years he had been lucky enough to get into the same class as Dream but today, as he was eating dinner, his mom broke the news that he wouldn’t be in the same class as Dream.

It would have happened eventually, of course it would, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less.

He huffed and shuffled under his bed covers, a spike of bitterness growing in his stomach the more he thought about not being with Dream. Sure he had Sapnap in his class but he wasn’t Dream, he couldn’t just fill the empty spot next to George where Dream stood.

George wouldn’t get small notes passed to him with small doodles on them, the regular tapping of Dream’s foot on the floor as they sat next to each other, or any sly jokes the other managed to whisper in his ear. George would be without Dream and the idea made the bitter feeling only grow. It would have been easy, so easy, to let the bitterness consume him but it wouldn’t have done nothing than to bring him down even more.

George began to focus on his room in hopes of chasing the thoughts and bitterness away. His eyes darted around the room as he took everything in. It was dark and the glow in the dark stars littering his ceiling stared down at George, as if they were judging him for not being asleep yet. George glanced at the small clock and squinted at it to read that it was 12:48 in the morning.

He resisted groaning and smothering his face with his pillow. Everything seemed to become worse the older you got. His schoolwork, the classmates, and teachers all had been more than enough evidence for him to believe so and it didn’t look like it would get better anytime soon.

George tried to keep distracting himself with small things in his room, the papers scattered on his desk, the backpack that sat on his desk chair, and the stars glowing down on him. Despite there being so much to look at he found himself unable to chase the thoughts away and he found himself thinking about Dream.

How would Dream react to the news? 

If George really thought about it, Dream would probably be fine. Dream never had problems with making friends and had always been annoyingly social in class to the point where George found himself envious of Dream’s confidence with people.With Dream drawing people in like a moth to a flame that meant that he had an endless supply of people who would be following him.

Dream didn’t need George, he would be just fine without George and the idea of that made George sick. He swallowed roughly and tried his best to ignore the growing spikes of bitterness that rushed through him by counting the glowing stars stuck to his ceiling.

They were small blue stars that had been regularly replaced by George each night. He found them one day while out shopping with his mom and fell in love with the stars. It didn’t take long before a nine year old George was sticking up the stars with his dad and a giant grin on his face.

George sprawled out like a starfish on his bed and threw an arm over his eyes with a sigh. His hair clung to his forehead and the thick blankets on him only served to further suffocate him with heat. He resisted the urge to loudly groan as he threw the blankets off of him before he turned to lay his side. The whirring of his box fan filled the room and the breeze felt nice but it wasn’t enough to combat the heat.

Two years of living in Florida and he still wasn’t used to the constant heat that plagued the state. It didn’t help that it was the summer, which meant the heat had somehow gotten impossibly worse. In an attempt to combat the blistering heat, George had changed into a loose grey t-shirt and shorts but it had done little to help with the sweat that had accumulated on his skin.

Maybe he could crack a window open? There could be a breeze outside to save him but the idea of bugs getting in made him squirm. He really didn’t want to wake up with a thousand mosquito bites all over him and a couple of bugs in his room but he was desperate enough at this point to consider it.

Well he could at least check that the temperature in the house wasn’t set to some hellish temperature. 

Slowly, George sat up from the bed and he frowned at the piles of papers, random clothes, and books laying on the floor that he managed to miss. He swung his legs over the bed and carefully stepped onto the carpeted floor. He tiptoed over to the door and slowly opened it before he peaked in the hall. George stepped out after a couple seconds of looking into the dark hallway and ran past his parents room, knowing that neither would wake up.

His feet hit the stairs with a small thump on each step and he did a little hop off the second to last stair to reach the ground faster. His legs led him to the thermostat and he found himself in the living room glaring at the small white box with buttons on it.

81 Fahrenheit the small numbers on the box glowed at him. 

George’s eyes widened and a noise of distress came out of his mouth. His parents had set it to 81 degrees fahrenheit. They wanted to boil George alive with this sort of temperature!

His hand itched to mess with the number but he knew that messing with the number would result in his parents complaining to him the next morning while George shoveled cereal in his mouth. George let out a groan of annoyance and glared harder at the small box, hoping that maybe if he glared hard enough he would be able to ignore the sweat dripping down his forehead.

George sighed and dragged himself back up the stairs in defeat. He was forced to suffer in the heat while contemplating what he meant to Dream and how George would survive without Dream by his side for the school year. It was all enough to make him want to stuff his face into his pillow and yell out his frustrations mixed with curses.

He closed his door behind him and looked up at the soft blue stars that were scattered on his ceiling before he flopped onto the bed face first. He laid there for a couple seconds, wondering how long he would have to deal with the unbearable heat, before he felt a buzz to his left.

George felt his heart leap and he jumped away from where the buzz was before he realized that it had just been his phone. He sat up and took a couple deep breaths to calm his heart back to its normal speed. George quietly laughed to himself once it was back to normal and his hand reached out to his phone and his thumb pressed the power button. A small notification sat on the screen with a name attached to it near the top of it.

His eyes widened as he read the text notification.

Dream had texted him.

Quickly George tapped out his passcode and went to messages. He clicked on his friend’s name and found himself staring at the message his friend had sent.

**I can’t sleep :(((**

George chuckled to himself and rolled his eyes at the text. Of course Dream would be texting him about not being able to sleep when George couldn’t sleep himself.

_I can’t sleep either._

**NO WAY! :0**

**how are we awake at the same time???**

**maybe we’re linked in some sort of psychic way?**

**wouldn’t that be cool**

A small chuckle slipped past George’s lips before he could think much about it. His fingers tapped against the digital keyboard and his smile only grew with each letter.

_Only you would think of something so dumb._

George put his phone down and laughed quietly to himself as he felt the rapid buzzing on his phone. He waited until the buzzing stopped before he picked up his phone and found fifteen new notifications, all coming from Dream. He opened his phone and glanced at the offended messages the other had sent in response.

George scrolled through them with a smile until he saw the most recent. His smile was wiped off his face and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

**fine then, I guess you shouldn’t look out your window for a surprise :/**

George’s eyes widened and he found himself to his feet before he could think a second more. He ripped open his curtains and his brown eyes scanned the lawn until he saw a shadowy figure in the lawn. His mouth dropped open when he saw the shadowy figure standing in his lawn.

Dream was standing in his lawn in the middle of the night while wearing a hoodie. What the hell.

George watched in shock as Dream walked up to the area right under his window. The boy waved at George and was now close enough for George to barely make out his face. A familiar grin was on the blonde’s face while he looked up at George, not seeming to care about the fact he was wearing a hoodie outside.

George felt his face warm up and he opened the window before he leaned out of it. “What the hell are you doing here?” He loudly hissed to his friend.

Dream’s eyes crinkled at George and he laughed. “I found out we didn’t have the same class this year so I wanted to see you.”

The words were so genuine it nearly gave George whiplash at the sound of them. Dream had always been unpredictable, hadn’t he? God, George was too attached to Dream and he didn’t know how he was going to survive without Dream being by his side. 

“So you snuck out of your house to visit me?” George asked, leaning a bit more out the window as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It’s the middle of the night, you could have gotten kidnapped!”

“No one would be able to kidnap me,” Dream laughed. He looked up at George and he gestured to himself. “I mean, have you looked at me? I’m just some skinny 10 year old boy, no one wants that.”

George’s eyes widened in concern and he resisted the urge to grab a book from his room to throw it at Dream in hope that the other would use his brain for once. “That’s literally what kidnappers want!” He cried out.

“Whatever,” Dream shrugged, “I’m here anyway so let me in and we can start hanging out.” He lifted his left hand to reveal a small bag in his hand that looked any second away from bursting with the amount of items in it.

“You’re staying over here?” George asked. He wouldn’t mind the other being here, in fact he would have loved it, but he wasn’t sure how his parents would react to Dream appearing in his room in the morning.

“Just until sunrise,” Dream clicked his tongue at the end and narrowed his eyes. “It’s annoying talking to you from so far away. I just want to chill and chat with you for a bit.”

George never had run down his stairs both as quickly and quietly as he had in those few seconds. He found himself gasping for air as he wrenched the front door open. He smiled at the sight of the slightly smaller blonde in front of him.

Dream’s face lit up at the sight of George and he walked inside. His arms wrapped around George for a second before he let go and took his shoes off. 

“Do you have something I could snack on?” Dream asked, voice so unnaturally soft that George nearly missed it. He had been so used to hearing the loud yells of Dream’s voice that hearing a volume so soft made George do a double take.

“Yeah, maybe some Cheez-Its?” George said, walking over to the kitchen with his footsteps light despite knowing that his parents probably wouldn’t walk up.

“Awesome,” Dream grinned.

The two boys walked into the kitchen and once George had the bright red box in his hands he started to walk right back up to his room. Dream followed right on his heels and the two boys managed to sneak up the stairs with little fanfare. Once the door was closed behind them George let out a sigh of relief.

The box was snatched from his hands and his eyes shot to Dream, who gave him a cheeky grin. He shook the box lightly before he opened it and shoved a couple of the orange squares in his mouth.

“I forgot how good these were,” Dream laughed. He passed the box to George and walked over to George’s bed before he plopped down with a soft bounce.

George raised an eyebrow and joined his friend on the bed. “How do you forget what Cheez-Its taste like?”

“Just haven’t had them in a while,” Dream shrugged, he sighed and laid down on the bed with his eyes facing the ceiling littered with glow in the dark stars. “Mom’s been weird about nutrition all the sudden, I swear we have like no junk food in the house.”

George’s eyes widened and he leaned closer to Dream. “Not even ice cream?” He whispered.

Dream shook his head. “Not even ice cream. I think she’s trying to lose weight and wants the whole family to join in, except for Drista though since it would be bad for a three year old to be losing weight instead of gaining it.”

Dream’s baby sister, Drista, was someone George had learned about during his second visit to the treehouse with Dream. Apparently Drista was, Dream’s words and not Georges, a whiny brat who constantly needed Dream to look after her whenever he was home.

George had laughed back then and asked Dream if the bags under his eyes were her fault, the other had grumpily answered yes which only made George laugh even harder at his friend’s misfortune. Being an older sibling sounded horrible from what George heard and if he wasn’t an only child he would have definitely preferred being a younger sibling.

Dream gasped and sat up, hands making their way to the bag he had settled down next to him. He fumbled it open and pulled out a brand new DS that George knew was green despite seeing a dark yellow. His eyes flashed with excitement and the look on his face was enough to make George feel a spark of excitement ignite in his chest. 

“I got one!” Dream cried. His eyes flashed with excitement and the look on his face was enough to make a smile find its way onto George’s face. He leaned in closer to George to show off the DS. “Dude I haven’t even touched Pokémon yet because I was so excited to show you.”

George felt his heart skip a beat and his face flush. “You waited so we could open it together?”

“Of course,” Dream rolled his eyes at George like he was saying something glaringly obvious. “Why wouldn’t I wait? I wanted you to be there when I opened it so of course I would wait till I was with you.”

The idea made a fuzzy feeling bloom in George’s heart and he coughed to try to cool his heating face. Dream had been ranting about Pokémon for the last month and showed George about a hundred different videos talking about the newest game. So seeing that Dream had waited to play the game made George wonder if he underestimated his importance to Dream.

George looked back at Dream, who’s grin hadn’t dimmed a single bit and appeared to be waiting for George. “So, then let’s open it.”

The boys found themselves enraptured with the game quickly despite there only being one person who controlled it. Dream played the controls with ease despite it being his first DS while George offered commentary as he bent over to look at the small device.

If you asked George how long they had talked for he would have sworn that it was only twenty minutes at most. So when he checked the clock and saw the time his eyebrows furrowed before his eyes widened. Clocks didn’t lie, unless they were set wrong, and that meant that an hour had passed since Dream had arrived.

He nudged Dream lightly, getting an annoyed noise from Dream and a look to match. “What?”

“You’ve been here for an hour!” George exclaimed.

He watched Dream’s head whip towards the digital clock and his friend’s mouth drop open. He looked back at George with wide eyes. “Holy crap!”

“Shouldn’t you get home?” George frowned. Now that he thought about it why did Dream randomly come over in the middle of the night? It would have been easy to claim it was to show off the DS or that he just wanted to see George after getting theirs classes but George knew that Dream could have just visited after he ate dinner. George and his parents always made it clear to Dream that he could visit whenever but visiting in the middle of the night was just straight up weird, even for Dream.

Dream shook his head and clicked a couple buttons before he closed the DS and put it in his bag. “Nah, Mom and Dad won’t notice anyway. They’re busy with Drista or sleeping whenever she isn’t crying so I can do whatever really.”

“Really?” George asked, his eyes wide and focused on Dream as he found himself sitting still. “Whatever you want? Like you could smash a vase and they wouldn’t care?”

“Of course they would,” Dream laughed, “I meant as long as I’m safe and healthy they don’t care. They trust me with those sorts of things now because I’m older.”

“Lucky,” George muttered, memories of his parent’s watchful eyes and scolding filled his head. He shooed them away and focused on his friend who was staring at him with a disappointed look. He blinked at Dream and raised an eyebrow at the stare. “What?”

“We don’t have class together this year,” Dream whispered.

A silence followed Dream’s words had only served to emphasize the blonde’s word. The sound of the fan filled his ears and if he tried hard enough he would be able to hear the soft chirping from crickets coming from his window which he realized he forgot to close. 

After about a minute of silence Dream was the first to break it. He cleared his throat and looked to the ground, hands fidgeting in his lap. “I..well I found out from my Mom today that we don’t have class together this year. I’m so used to having you by my side that it feels weird knowing you won’t be next to me in class. I mean who am I going to ask to copy the homework off of or pass notes to?” He laughed weakly at the end of the sentence and it slowly trailed off into another uncomfortable silence.

All previous ideas of Dream being fine without George immediately were shattered in that moment. Dream was just as unsure for the future as George had been and seeing someone so confident be so unsure made George feel as though he was seeing something private from Dream.

“I was scared of being alone,” George blurted. He watched Dream’s head snap up to him and he steeled his nerves before he continued to speak. “I was scared of you not being my friend anymore.”

“What?” Dream knit his eyebrows together and his voice was full of disbelief. “George, I’m not going to stop being friends with you because we don’t have the same teacher!”

“Well now I know!” George sighed.

Dream squinted at George for a couple seconds before he sighed and grabbed George’s shoulders. “You’re such an idiot, George you’re literally the only other person who knows about the Treehouse. You’re like my right hand man and the only one who consistently puts up with all the crap I cause. I’m not going to leave you over not having the same teacher! I’m not going to ever leave you!”

“I get that now!” George cried. He shoved Dream’s hands off of his shoulders and felt warmth flood his cheeks. “I just wasn’t sure earlier but now I am.”

“Good,” Dream huffed. He analyzed George for a couple more seconds before he reached out and flicked his friend’s arm, earning a yelp from George. “You’re a real idiot y’know?”

George rolled his eyes at the childish tone. “Between the two of us, you’re the idiot. You literally asked me what 5+9 was the other day.”

Dream gawked at George for a couple seconds before he shook his head. “I was tired!” He defended.

“Alright, Dream,” George laughed, “whatever you say.”

“I literally stayed up that night because we went out to a family friend’s place for dinner!” Despite the poor lighting, George could tell his friend’s face was growing redder with each word. They locked eyes and the annoyed expression only got worse with each word growing higher in pitch. “I told you that before we studied!”

“I know, I know,” George reassured with a laugh, “I’m just messing with you.”

Dream’s face slowly lost its redness and the other’s features slacked in relief. He looked at George for a couple of seconds before he wheezed. “I can’t believed I asked such a dumb question. God, that was a -100 iq moment for sure.”

“Oh it definitely was,” George agreed.

A silence fell over the room, this time more comfortable than the last, and both boys found themselves glancing at each other and laughing. Dream’s laugh was so damn contagious that George couldn’t help but to laugh any time he heard a loud wheeze from the other. It definitely didn’t help that Dream laughed a lot and, normally, at the smallest things.

“Do you think we woke up your parents?” Dream managed to get out once they settled down. He wiped his eyes with the back of his sweatshirt sleeve as a grin rested on his face.

George glanced at his door and the room was silent for a couple seconds before he turned back to his friend. “Definitely not, they sleep like rocks. I swear I could have a bulldozer run through the house and they would still be asleep.”

“That’s good,” Dream nodded. He smirked and reached for the Cheez-It box again before he shoved a handful into his mouth and stood up. “I need to get going soon, it’s getting late.”

“It’s dark out there,” George frowned as he looked outside his window. The street lights definitely didn’t provide enough light for anyone to feel comfortable walking alone outside. He turned back to his friend. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

“Yeah, I can just scream like I’m being murdered if anything bad happens,” Dream stood up and stretched his arms up with a groan. He ran a hand through his blonde locks and sighed. “Besides I have a knife in my bag incase.”

“Your dad let you have a knife?” George asked. He watched his friend with wide eyes and his mouth dropped open. “Dad doesn’t even let me touch the knives to help with dinner after I nearly cut off my finger!”

“Like I said,” Dream grinned, “my parents let me do what I want now that I’m going into fifth grade. Besides I know how to hold one properly so it makes sense why a cooking disaster like you wouldn’t be allowed to touch a knife.” 

George rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything in response and watched the other get ready to leave. He followed the other out of his door and they walked down the stairs silently. George grabbed the red box from Dream’s hands and quickly headed to the kitchen to put it back in the cabinet, praying that his parents wouldn’t notice a couple handfuls of Cheez-Its had gone missing. 

“Do you think I can come over tomorrow?” Dream asked as George emerged from the kitchen. “I want to play Pokémon a bit more with you.”

“Of course,” George answered without a second thought. His parents were planners and liked to know things beforehand so they had a small calendar listing events in the kitchen. George liked to check the calendar as well so it wasn’t hard for him to know when he was free and this week he was every single day.

Dream grinned at him. “Awesome! I can come sometime around 11 since I have to go to the store with Mom and Drista for a bit in the morning.”

“Can we go to the treehouse then?” George asked, feeling a spark of excitement in him. 

“Sure, we haven’t been in a while,” Dream said. He walked a couple steps to the front door before his eyes widened and he turned to George with a grin. “I can also bring some more games and you can play them!”

“You just want to show off that you’re better than me,” George jokingly accused.

“Maybe,” Dream chuckled. 

The two looked at each other for a couple seconds before they broke out into giggles. George shoved Dream towards the door with a chuckle. “Alright, now leave.”

“If you didn’t want here you could have just said so,” Dream laughed. He let George push him to the door before he put his hand on the knob and opened it.

The warm night air hit both boys and the sound of crickets chirping became louder. It was humid out and George frowned. He hadn’t noticed the humidity when he had let Dream in earlier. If it rained tomorrow then going to the treehouse wouldn’t have been half as fun as it usually was during the sunnier days.

“It won’t rain until night time tomorrow,” Dream said.

George looked at him with wide eyes before he lightly shoved Dream’s shoulder. “Are you a mind reader or something?” He laughed.

“I had the same thought earlier but I checked and it’s only going to rain at night,” Dream explained. His eyes widened and he turned to George with a gasp. “No, wait! What if we are psychically linked somehow? I mean it was weird that we both were awake the same night and that I knew what you were thinking!”

“Dream, you aren’t a psychic,” George laughed as he watched Dream’s face drop. He looked closer at Dream and noticed the eyebags under his friend’s eyes. George frowned and nudged his friend outside. “Now go to sleep you look like you’ll drop any second.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dream laughed. He stepped outside and looked up at George. His eyes appeared to shine brighter in the soft lighting from the porch and he smiled at George. “Goodnight George.”

It was said so softly that George nearly didn’t hear it. The words were tender and made a rush of warmth flood in his heart. He had seen goodnight’s from Dream over text a thousand times but hearing was a different thing. It had always been yelling a ‘see you soon’ and never a soft goodnight. He got the feeling that it wouldn’t be the first time he would hear words spoken so softly by Dream but that it was also going to be a while before he heard it again.

“Goodnight Dream,” George whispered back, his voice attempting to be as equally soft. 

Dream was the one to close the door. Once he had George found himself rushing over to the window to watch the other leave. Dream had attempted to reassure George that he was safe but it eased George slightly when he watched the other walk safely with his own two eyes, even if George wouldn’t be able to watch him for even an eighth of the trip.

He slowly trudged upstairs once Dream was out of sight and tiptoed past his parents room. The door clicked softly behind him before he stumbled to his bed. George fell face first on the soft sheets and nuzzled the soft pillow with his cheek.

If there was anyone George could trust it was Dream. 

George really had been dumb, hadn’t he? Thinking that Dream was just going to leave him because they didn’t have the same teacher wasn't exactly George’s most rational thought and the longer he stewed over it the less it made sense.

Dream had always been equally engaging in their friendship as George was. He had been over to George’s house to visit nearly everyday and always sent George texts without George needing to text first. They wouldn’t just stop talking to each other because they didn’t have the same teacher and the world fell off of George’s shoulders at the idea of still having Dream by his side. 

George lightly laughed and tucked himself under his sheets. He nuzzled himself further into his bed and noticed the temperature in the room seemed significantly cooler due to the window opened. The soft whirring of the fan soothed his thoughts and slowly he found his eyelids closing before he could stop them.

George really was an idiot sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I changed my name! I also didn't update for ages, mostly due to poorly timed writer's block and my school going hybrid, so sorry. I'm going to start updating more now that life has settled down and doesn't feel like I'm getting my ass handed to me by five different assignments needing to be done. 
> 
> Any comments, kudos, or support of any kind is welcome and thanks for reading this chapter in this little self indulgent fanfic. Stay cool and my twitter is @CamelliaConsum1 and you can just send a message over there if you want to chat!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Valentine's Day and George finds himself approached by someone with a confession. As the day goes by George finds himself even more unsure of what to do with the love confession.

Time in Mr O’Connor’s class always seemed to slow down to a mind numbing pace. 

Like nearly every kid on earth, George hated math class with a burning passion. With the emotionless words of Mr O’Connor and the boring lectures, it wasn’t a surprise to see nearly half the class with their heads on their desks.

His pencil eraser tapped on the desk and made a soft vibration that resounded throughout the entire desk. His leg bounced lightly as he examined the parking lot outside, with 22 blue cars and 10 red cars so far having been counted by the brunette. He turned away from the window and looked at the clock on the wall, praying that there was at least two minutes left.

George resisted the urge to loudly groan at seeing that there were five more minutes left of Mr O’Connor’s class from hell. The sound of Mr O’Connor’s words were easy to drown out and he turned his head to focus back on the parking lot outside, this time deciding to focus on the weather outside.

Despite it being February, the sun had decided it was going to try its best to blind everyone today. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and a soft breeze that made the leaves on the trees surrounding the school softly wave to George from the outside. He found his eyes drawn to their hypnotic motion and memories of a cold breeze hitting him on a hot day only made George’s impatience grow.

He glanced back at the clock and bit back another groan of annoyance. His head fell back and he stared up at the white ceiling blankly. Just another minute, another minute and he would be able to go to lunch freely. He would be able to see Dream, Quackity, and Sapnap at the table and talk about whatever was on their minds. Just one more damn minute until freedom.

His eyes made their way back to the clock and the smaller black hand antagonized George with it’s small clicks. Anticipation began to build up in George and he began to pack his binder up once he noticed there was one minute left.

When the bell rang George had practically sprinted out of the room with Mr O’Connor’s yells trailing behind him. He smiled to himself as he ran through the small crowds of students. He slowed down after he was a good couple of classrooms away from math and he huffed out a laugh as he slowed down to join the crowd of students on their way to lunch.

Eventually a familiar door came into view and George headed to the side so he could lean against a wall while he waited. He sighed and leaned back, his face scrunching up as he felt his backpack dig uncomfortably into his back.

The chatter rising from the crowd was fairly distracting and George tried his best to block it out so he could focus. His eyes scanned the stream of students as the blur of faces walked by him. He narrowed his eyes at the crowd and wondered if Dream had already left class to go to lunch.

“George!” Dream’s voice yelled out from somewhere.

George’s eyes snapped in the direction and he found a familiar blonde with his hand stuck high in the air. Dream’s smile set a familiar warmth in George’s chest and the uncomfortable feeling from before had disappeared.

Once he made it to George, the blonde let out a familiar wheeze and covered his mouth with his hand as he looked at George. “God, you looked like you were a lost puppy or something.”

“I wasn’t,” George frowned at Dream before narrowing his eyes at the younger, “I was looking for you.”

“You know you don’t have to wait for me here,” Dream sighed and ran a hand through his fluffy blonde hair. “I’m going to be at the table anyway so you can just run ahead and we can meet up there.”

George opened his mouth to try to defend himself but found nothing coming to mind that could save him. He saw Dream’s raised eyebrow and smirk before he closed it with a glare. 

“Shut up Mr. I-Still-Pee-My-Bed-On-Accident,” George rolled his eyes and held back a smile at hearing the panicked shush from Dream.

Dream’s eyes were blown wide and his mouth dropped open in horror. The face reminded George of when his Mom had heard George swear for the first time and he couldn’t hold back the laughter that came from the memory. A chuckle slipped out of him and Dream narrowed his eyes at George.

His arm came up and his fist lightly made contact with George’s shoulder. “You said you wouldn’t talk about it!” Dream hissed at George.

“Yeah well you were being annoying,” George raised an eyebrow at Dream, who flushed and looked down. 

“Y’know what? Let’s just go to lunch,” Dream huffed, his cheeks bright red and his eyes refusing to look at George.

George felt the urge to continue to prod at Dream but held back since he didn’t want his friend to get genuinely angry with him. Their walk was quiet between them but to George it didn’t feel quite uncomfortable just yet and he decided that giving Dream time to calm down was the best option.

Once they walked into the cafeteria Dream’s annoyance had appeared to wane and now he was anxiously glancing at George, his mouth opening and closing a couple times as if he was trying to think of something to say. The guilt was apparent on his face and it reminded George of an apologetic dog.

Their usual table was empty and George slightly furrowed his brows. Where was Sapnap and Quackity? They were always the first here and would greet the other two with loud laughter and terrifyingly fast chatter.

“Where are they?” George muttered as he put his bag onto his usual seat. 

Relief swept over Dream’s face and he quickly fell back into his usual state. “I don’t know but I’m sure they’ll be here soon. You go ahead and get your lunch, I’ll wait here and eat my sandwich.”

George nodded and left the table to go grab his lunch. He managed to snag two slices of pizza, an apple, a pink heart cookie, and a small chocolate milk carton from the counter. He quickly paid for his lunch and was about to leave when a hand tapped his shoulder.

George jumped a little before he turned around to find a girl standing behind him. She had silky brown hair and a bright smile on her face as she looked at George. He faintly remembered being in the same class as her in fifth grade even though he didn’t remember her name.

“Hey, George!” She laughed, her voice sounding chipper but George noted a small nervous tone to it. She tilted her head and wrung her hands together. “So do you know what day it is?”

George blinked at her before he shook his head. “Uh, what day is it?”

The girl laughed and pointed at the heart cookie with a raised brow. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice with the heart cookie, it’s Valentine's Day silly.”

_Oh, oh no._

George’s eyes widened and he could feel the slight panic build up in him because even as inexperienced as he was he knew that a girl bringing up Valentine's Day didn’t just mean nothing. Fuck, how did he even forget what day it was?

“It is,” George blurted, once the words were out he resisted the urge to start smacking himself on the head.

She looked down at the ground for a second and took a deep breath before she continued. “I’m going to just be straightforward about it and not beat around the bush. I like you George and I have for a while now.”

George’s mouth dropped open to say something but all that came out was nothing. His mouth grew dry and he froze as the words in his brain were scrambled beyond. He tried to pick up a couple to sort them but they fell through his hands as if he was grabbing at sand.

Normally people would be happy at hearing that someone liked them but all George felt was a stifling awkwardness in him that continued to grow with each passing second in silence.

The girl’s face was bright red and she curled a piece of her hair around her finger. “Y..you don’t have to answer right now. Just think about it for a little bit alright?”

Before George could even process her words she had left, leaving the brunette standing alone with a lunch tray in his hands and a new issue to deal with. He stood there for a couple of seconds, eyes wide and one phrase ringing through his mind.

_Well fuck._

George didn’t know what to do and he doubted anyone at the table would know what to do. God knows that the day Sapnap got a girlfriend would be the day that the world ended. Quackity probably would just laugh the entire situation off and tease him about it before getting all whiny about George ‘leaving him’. Dream...well George wasn’t quite sure what Dream would do and if he was being honest Dream was probably the best person to go to out of his friends.

“Are you just going to stand there?” A guy’s voice said behind George.

George turned around and saw a familiar pink haired guy standing behind him with an annoyed expression. He recognized him as Technoblade, the guy who was Wilbur Soot’s twin and Dream’s self proclaimed rival. 

“Sorry,” George muttered before he walked away, his face warm. He walked over to the table quickly and noticed two more familiar heads at the table.

He forcefully pushed the memory of the confession to the back of his head while he sat down at the table. Their heads turned and George watched their eyes all light up at the sight of George, something that made him happier than he would have ever liked to admit.

“Look who finally showed up,” Sapnap laughed, in his hand he held a half eaten yogurt cup. “You took a while up there, Gogy.”

“I was here before you,” George frowned, he opened his mouth again to explain but stopped himself in time to just fake a cough into his sleeve. “I just had to get up to get lunch.”

“Well anyway, so Quackity then decided that throwing water on the fire was a brilliant idea,” Sapnap laughed. 

Quackity paled and smacked Sapnap’s shoulder a couple of times. “I was in a panic!” 

“Literally everyone knows not to throw water on a grease fire!” Dream wheezed, ignoring the sharp glare from Quackity.

George grinned and started eating as he listened to his friends chat about the fire Quackity and Sapnap had accidentally started. He wanted to share the same engagement in the story as his friends but his brain was too occupied to pay attention. The words of his friends slowly became background noise and he felt like his body went on autopilot to eat as the thoughts consumed his brain.

A girl had confessed to him and he didn’t even know her name. How did that even happen? How could you like someone who didn’t even know your name? It felt ridiculous to George and the more he thought about it the less it made sense. He tried his best to try to find memories of her but found that he wasn’t able to recall a single moment where he had interacted with her.

The bell rang and George was snapped out of his head. He stood up and walked to the counter where people put their dirty trays. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around to find Dream walking by his side with a lunchbox in his hand.

Dream scanned his face for a couple of seconds before he sighed. “Is everything alright? You’ve been weird ever since I was mad at you for bringing up the, uh, piss incident and I want to know if everything is alright, because I thought everything was alright but now you’re just being weird and-”

The words came out jumbled and each word appeared to be spoken faster than the last. George recognized the rambling and he knew that if he didn’t stop the rambling soon it would just result in Dream blurting out something he didn’t mean to blurt.

“I’m not mad at you,” George interrupted, he watched Dream’s eyes snap to him and George cleared his throat at the wide eyed stare, “you didn’t do anything so don’t worry.”

“So something did happen?” Dream asked, the worry was apparent on his face and George felt a spark of guilt at worrying his friend.

George turned around and put his tray on the counter before he turned back to Dream. He leaned over to his ear and whispered softly. “Let’s go to the treehouse later, I’ll tell you then.”

When he pulled away Dream leaned back and looked at George, his gold eyes wide and a soft spark in them as they made contact with George’s own eyes. “Alright, then.” His words were spoken in a breathy whisper that made George’s heart begin to race.

George felt his mouth grow dry and his hands go clammy before he jerked his head away, breaking their eye contact. He felt his face flush and his heart rapidly thumped in his chest. The beating sound of George’s heart drowned out everything else and it took a couple of seconds before the beating had calmed down. Once it did he turned back to find Dream looking at him with worry scribbled all over his face.

“I..I’m fine,” George tried to reassure, he paused for a second before he spoke again, “I promise.”

They were both aware of the lie but for the sake of not being late to class neither brought it up. It was easier to pretend to believe in the lie for a little bit than to confront it immediately when the time just wasn’t right. 

George walked back to the table in silence with Dream by his side and his brain was filled with thoughts of what just happened. What he was going to do about the confession?

The rest of the school day flew by once George had made it to his next class. Notes were written down in a blur, words slipped from his mouth that were forgotten moments later, and his ears managed to avoid retaining anything anyone said. By the time the bell was about to ring for the end of the day, George felt like the lunch period had been just 10 minutes ago when in reality it had been three hours ago.

He held his backpack strap and stood calmly at the door. He felt a buzz from his pocket and grabbed his phone from it. His eyes landed on a message from Dream and he felt a bubble of anxiety rise in him. Quickly he swiped his phone open to read the message.

**so I go on bus 4 right?**

George smiled and held back a chuckle at the casual message before he glanced up at the teacher and shield his phone away from her with his back. 

_Yeah, it’s near the front and you can sit with me when you get on._

**epic**

George couldn’t fight the grin on his face and the anxiety from before had been replaced with the usual content he felt near Dream. He glanced back at the teacher and slid his phone back in his pocket so he could stop huddling near the wall and looking like a weirdo. 

When the bell rang George walked out of the room with ease. Unlike lunch there wasn’t any rush to get to a table or to be first in line, instead there were plenty of seats on every bus and plenty of time. The casualness of the entire walk was pleasant and it was amusing to watch the students push and shove each other in a desperate attempt get seats near the back of the bus.

The warm air hit his skin when he walked out and the sunlight rested on his face. George lifted his face slightly towards the sun and closed his eyes for a second as he enjoyed the pleasant heat that was so much better than the cold air conditioning the school had. The breeze brushed against his cheek and greeted him like an old friend before quickly leaving.

“Weren’t you the one supposed to be at the bus before me?” Dream’s voice came from behind George. 

George turned around and saw the blonde with a casual smile on his face. George felt a fond warmth in his chest as he shook his head at the blonde. “I never said I was going to be there first, I just said we could sit together.”

“But it was implied,” Dream raised an eyebrow at George and began to walk towards the bus. 

George was quick to follow and rolled his eyes. “Like how it’s implied that you’re an idiot every day of your life?”

“That…” Dream turned to look at George with an incredulous look before a silly grin spread on his face, “that doesn’t even make sense!”

“So does half of the stuff that comes out of your mouth,” George fired back as he held back a cringe at the words. He knew it was weak and the words were nothing compared to some of his other roasts he had done in the past.

Dream wheezed lightly and shook his head, not glancing back at George as he walked onto the bus. “God, you’re so bad at making up roasts.”

George made an offended noise as they walked down the bus aisle before he sat down in a seat. “Whatever you say, Mr. I-Still-Pee-My-Bed-On-.”

A hand flew towards George’s mouth and roughly slapped it, successfully muffling George’s words before he could continue. He glared at Dream, who was wide eyed and his cheeks were flushed red.

“Seriously stop talking about that!” He hissed. His backpack laid on the floor and Dream had practically jumped across a couple of seats to cover George’s mouth with his hand.

George held back a laugh and rolled his eyes before he took Dream’s hand off. “Alright, as long as you try to convince Sapnap and Quackity to stop saying Gogy.”

Dream gave him a pained look and a noise that matched the look. “That’s impossible! Besides I’m not even responsible for that dumb nicknamme!”

“Well then, get used to it crybaby,” George said. He watched Dream deflate and sit down next to him before he dramatically put his head down. George huffed out a laugh and patted his friend on the back lightly. “Really Dream? God, you’re dramatic.”

Dream stayed there for a couple of seconds and George eventually pulled his hand back which caused his friend’s head to rise up. He pouted at George and it only made George nearly laugh at the sight of it rather than make the other feel bad. “Why’d you pull away?” 

“Because I can?” George stretched his arms up and let out a small groan before he put them back down. “I can’t wait to go to the treehouse and just relax.”

“Same,” Dream said. His eyes suddenly lit up and his hands grasped the bag on his lap a little harder before he turned to George. “Oh! So today Sapnap and I were in english and Ms Anderson wanted us to act out this scene so-”

The conversation went off from there and George found himself listening to Dream’s ramblings of today while they sat on the bus. Eventually the bus began to move while the two boys chatted about their days. George was careful to steer clear of the confession and found himself talking about his boredom in Mr O’Connor’s class.

Once they had arrived at their stop both boys were quick to get off and a soft breeze pushed George’s hair back as he stepped off. They watched the bus leave before they began to head in the direction of the woods. 

Dream kicked a rock with his sneaker. “So, why did you even want to come to the treehouse? No offense but you don’t normally ask to come here unless something is up.”

George felt a small bout of guilt in his chest and he swallowed down a preemptive apology for the worry he must have put Dream through. “I’ll explain at the treehouse, I promise.”

“...alright,” Dream muttered, the word was soft and George felt the guilt in him only rise at the word.

The walk was quiet between them and the occasional noise of cars and the thump of rocks they kicked away filled the silence. The warm air engulfed George and he felt the sweat begin to form on his forehead the longer he walked.

Their feet lead them into the woods with practiced ease and their usual path to the treehouse hadn’t changed a single bit from the last time they visited. Down to the small stick sticking up near the rotten log everything had stayed exactly the same.

The cool breeze magnified in the forest and the break from the sun beating down their necks was one welcomed by George. He glanced at Dream and they made eye contact for a couple of seconds before Dream raised a brow at George with a smile.

“What?” It was soft and full of a fondness that made George’s heart speed up.

“I was just making sure you were still behind me,” George answered, face a little too flushed and words coming out a little too fast.

Dream let out a small laugh, his shoulders shaking with the action and his eyes crinkling. “You do that a lot y’know?”

“I do?” George frowned as he scoured his brain in an attempt to remember the last time he did that.

“You have since like third grade,” Dream glanced at George and cocked his head. “Did you really not realize?”

“No,” George muttered as confusion seeped into him.

Had George really been doing that? Dream seemed too serious for George to immediately believe he was joking and the other wouldn’t have gained anything by lying about this.

The Treehouse appeared in front of them and George looked up at it. The sunbeams cut through the trees to hit sections of it that gave a warm glow to everything it touched. The wooden beams were as strong as ever and looked as if they had just been placed, something that made George wonder if the treehouse was somehow magical. That would explain how it managed to not ever look worn down despite the harsh floridan weather.

The boys climbed up and settled in quickly, with Dream sitting down in a blue bean bag that the boys had managed to drag up around a month ago. It had taken a couple weeks of saving up and once they both gathered enough they had walked to the store and discreetly bought it with their money. It wasn’t like their parents would disapprove of the purchase, at least George knew his wouldn’t, but to both boys there was a magical feeling in hiding the Treehouse away from everyone else. 

It was their secret to keep with each other and no one else. Maybe it was a bit selfish to not include Sapnap or Quackity in it but George didn’t care if he was selfish or not, he couldn’t lose the joy he felt having a secret kept between him and Dream. It was something kept between just the two of them and George wanted it to stay that way forever.

George sat on the floor and looked up at Dream. Gold met brown and the wind rustling the leaves filled the silence between the two.

“So, will you finally tell me what’s going on?” Dream whispered. The words may have been quiet in volume but they managed to break the silence with one swift slice.

George grimaced and took a deep breath before putting his hands on his lap. “While I was up getting lunch some random girl stopped me,” he paused and looked up at Dream to find his friend motioning for him to go on, “she confessed that she had a crush on me and wants a response soon.”

“What?!” Dream blurted, his eyes wide and face twisted in confusion. “Y...You mean to tell me some girl walked up to you and asked you out?”

George looked to the side and nodded tentatively. “Processing it took ages and I’m still confused on how she could like me when we haven’t even had a single conversation I could remember.”

“Holy shit, Sapnap and Quackity are going to be pissed that you were the first out of all of us getting crushed on,” Dream said with slight awe.

In any other situation where George didn’t feel the anxiety clawing at his stomach he would have laughed at the idea of the two grumbling and bemoaning their lack of a love life. Instead he cleared his throat and looked up at Dream, who just looked back down at him and the smile on his face was wiped off.

“So,” Dream awkwardly cleared his throat, “do you like her?”

The room fell silent and even the leaves rustling around them stopped. It was such a simple sentence and yet it caused a flurry of anxiety to form in George’s chest as thoughts raced through his mind.

Mom had talked to him about love before. How love in english was such a broad term that it could refer to a thousand different things. You didn’t love a cat like how you loved your friends. You couldn’t love a new shirt like you loved your parents. How love had so many different usages that no one could claim they had never loved before.

Dad had told him that love viewed differently depending on the person describing it. To some love was a fiery emotion that consumed everything about them, Others described it as a softer emotion that bloomed gently within them filled with hope and kindness. There were thousands of ways to describe love and what it meant to be loved, no description or idea was any more right than the other.

George knew it was ridiculous to think about love at such a young age. He was young and inexperienced in the matter but did that mean he was any less qualified to explain his emotions then someone who had experience? It wasn’t their emotions he was feeling but his own and could properly understand what he was going through.

There was a rough cough and George snapped out of his thoughts to find Dream with a thinly veiled concerned look on his face. He took a deep breath and thought about the girl in the cafeteria.

He knew the answer from the moment that he had received the confession and George had been too much of a coward to admit it right away. He didn’t want to hurt anyone but wouldn’t lying hurt even more than being honest in this situation? George knew he was inexperienced and he knew that love was tricky but he also knew what he was feeling better than anyone else.

“No, I don’t like her,” George said. The words slipped from his tongue with such ease as the mountain of stress unloaded off of his shoulders with each word spoken.

His head turned upwards and he looked at Dream who’s concern had been wiped away with relief as he sighed, his body slumping down in the chair. “Well that solves that then, you’re always so straightforward with these types of things that they’re solved within minutes once I’m able to sit you down. You just need to stop overthinking things in your head and you’ll be fine.”

Fuck, Dream had a point.

George felt like laughing at his own ridiculousness, of course it was just George being a big idiot and overthinking everything like normal. He shook his head and looked at his hands in his lap.

“Thanks,” George’s words came out more raw and genuine than he thought they would. He swallowed back the uncomfortable lump in his throat before he looked up at Dream. “For everything I mean.”

“All I did was sit down and ask you if you liked the girl who confessed to you,” Dream made a noise of disbelief, “and you figured out the rest.”

_Without you here I probably would have overthought it all even more._

_With you here I was able to be more honest with myself than I ever would have been if I was alone._

The words nearly fell from George’s lips and he managed to screw his lips shut before they slipped out of his mouth. He felt embarrassment and confusion spike up in him at the very thought of the words. When the hell did he become so sappy towards his best friend?

“It was still nice to have someone to be there,” George scrunched his face up and motioned towards Dream’s entire body. “Y’know, like physically there?”

“No yeah I get what you mean,” Dream nodded, his eyes glanced around the room before they caught something from behind George. He grinned and stood up from the bag before he pulled a comic book from a shelf. “I was wondering where this went!”

George smiled to himself as he looked up at his friend, who’s golden eyes were shining with excitement and the smile taking over his face. 

George had never been more happy than to return to his normal life with his best friend by his side.

\--------

The next day George felt anxiety as he went up to get lunch. He dodged the kids in the way and picked out his meal before heading to the cash register. His eyes trailed around the cafeteria in search of the familiar sight of long silky brown hair.

“Hey!” A familiar voice called out from behind him.

George froze for a second before he quickly swiped his card and turned around to see the girl standing behind him. She held her hands behind her and was giving George a bright smile. 

“Did you think about it?” She asked, her voice was friendly and George felt a pang of guilt.

George glanced behind him and looked at the other kids in line before he took a couple steps to the side and nodded. “I did...”

“Well?” Excitement littered her voice as she leaned in forward.

George swallowed and shoved the urge to rub the back of his neck down. “I don’t like you.”

Her smile dropped off of her face and the excited spark in her eyes diminished so fast George wondered if it had even been there in the first place. Disappointment was written all over her face and she grabbed a lock of hair as she fiddled with it.

“Oh,” Her voice muddled with disappointment but not an ounce of anger or sadness was in it. “Well that makes sense, we didn’t really talk before I confessed.”

George nodded and the girl chuckled at the action before she crossed her arms and sighed. “I really should have expected this more than I did. It wouldn’t make sense for you to just accept my confession when you barely knew me anyway.”

George analyzed her face and tentatively nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry I can’t return your feelings.”

“It’s alright,” The girl nodded before she took a deep breath.

They stood there in awkward silence for a couple more seconds before the girl cleared her throat and jabbed a thumb behind her. “I...I should go now, bye.”

Within seconds she was gone and George was standing alone with a cafeteria tray full of food on it. He stood there for a couple more seconds before taking a deep breath and heading back to the lunch table. 

He grinned when he saw Quackity wildly gesturing about something as Dream pulled a scandalized face while Sapnap laughed. His tray hit the table as he sat down next to his friends.

He stabbed a couple pieces of macaroni onto his fork before he raised an eyebrow at his friends. “So what’s going on?”

Quackity and Sapnap grinned while Dream immediately started angrily interjecting in an attempt to stop both boys from starting to talk about whatever they had just been talking about. 

George smiled to himself as he watched his friend banter back and forth. Relief settled into him at the sight of his friends sliding into their usual routine. It felt good for things to be normal for again, for everything to be less confusing. Things were better this way anyway.

George didn’t need things to change, not now and hopefully not ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi everyone! Yes this is late for Valentines Day, why you may ask? Well you see I ended up writing this entire thing two other times before I found it acceptable to post, which was roughly 8k words being deleted because they were bad. Anyway, make sure you ate, drank some water, and took a little break from your screen because self care is very important.
> 
> Any comments, kudos, or support of any kind is welcome and thanks for reading this chapter in this little self indulgent fanfic. Stay cool and my twitter is @CamelliaConsum1 and you can just send a message over there if you want to chat!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I'm CartoonBun but just call me Cartoon. I've been in the Minecraft community since 2019 but never really was social on it but I decided to start writing fanfic for it. If Dream or George ever change their mind with being shipped then I'll 100% without hesitation delete my work.
> 
> Any feedback and support is greatly appreciated and I hope anyone who sees this has a good day!


End file.
